Warsaw: a city of beauty and sad history (2)

In the first part (here), I cover the accommodation part. While in the second part now, I will cover the places that I visited during my short time in Warsaw.

Tourist Information Center

Tourist Information Center

Before I’m taking you to any of the tourist attractions, first let me bring you to the tourist information center. This huge building is located just behind the Palace of Culture and Science (Polish: Pałac Kultury i Nauki) or in front of Warszawa Centralna Station (Polish: Dworzec Warszawa Centralna). I was amused by the architecture of the building and seems really huge from the outside. We can get information about how to go around the city, the tourism spots, free city maps, and free Wi-Fi connection.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a monument built in the central of Warsaw. It is located at Warsaw’s Piłsudski Square. This monument is dedicated to the unknown soldiers who have given their lives to Poland. In the main gate, where the tomb is located at, is constantly lit by an eternal flame and assisted by a guard post by the Representative Battalion of the Polish Army. If you happen to be here before noon, don’t miss the changing of the guard ceremony that usually takes place daily at 12.00 noon.

The rest of the area are garden where you can sit around and during summer there are so many people from young to old going there to enjoy the sun, as well as couple to have their pre-wedding photo shot.

The Fryderyk Chopin Museum

Fryderyk Chopin Museum

One of the memorabilia

From the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, you can continue walking to the Fryderyk Chopin Museum. This small yet lovely museum housed in Ostrogski Palace (Pałac Ostrogskich), strikingly situated on the Vistula escarpment. The museum exhibits the world’s richest and most varied collection of memorabilia related to both Chopin as an individual and his work. The collection includes manuscripts and printed copies of Chopin’s works, his correspondence, autographs, notes, works of art, personal items belonging to the composer and his piano.

The electronic ticket

This newly renovated museum is a multimedia exhibitions. By paying for the ticket, you will receive an electronic card of which you can use to activate the commentary and information in several languages, and listen to Chopin’s music.

No matter if you are a tourist, a musicologist, or even a child, I think almost everyone will find something in this museum to amuse them. This museum is awesomely designed so that everyone can create their own sightseeing route and itinerary in accordance to their personal interests. The entire exhibition consists of 15 rooms.

The museum opens from Tuesday to Sunday (11 a.m. – 8 p.m.) with the admission fee of 22 złs for regular visitor. I traveled with my student card so that I can get the reduced ticket price for 13 złs. It says that the admission is free on every Tuesday. I was so lucky that at the time I visited the museum, there was a musical performance for kids at the garden just right behind the museum. Everyone can join the musical performance of two flautists and a pianist.

Royal Castle in Warsaw

Royal Palace in Warsaw

The Royal Castle in Warsaw (Polish: Zamek Królewski w Warszawie) is a castle residency and was the official residence of the Polish monarchs. It is located in the Castle Square, at the entrance to the Warsaw Old Town. In its long history, the Royal Castle was repeatedly devastated and plundered by Swedish, Brandenburgian, German, and Russian armies.

The interior consists of many different rooms, such as: The Jagiellonian Rooms, The Houses of Parliament, The Royal Apartment, The Lanckoroński Collection, and The Copper-Roof Palace. Unfortunately, at the time I went there, I couldn’t find the way to get into the Copper-Roof Palace.

The most interesting part for me is to see Rembrandt’s paintings which are “Girl in the Picture Frame” and “Scholar at the Desk”. The Girl in the Picture Frame painting is exhibited along with its x-ray photograph. The x-ray photograph of Girl in the Picture Frame revealed a different female figure under the one that was finally shown. This x-ray photograph somehow appears to be a bit spooky to me. Hahahaha..

Left: x-ray photograph, Right: final painting as we see

The regular admission fee for the castle tour costs 22 złs. However, when I went there, the royal palace was opened for free for public.

They have different opening hours for winter and summer that you can check online here.

Jewish Cemetery

Jewish Cemetery

The Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. It is located on Warsaw’s Okopowa street. The cemetery was established in 1806 and occupies 33 hectares of land. The cemetery contains over 200,000 marked graves as well as mass graves victims of the Warsaw Ghetto. The cemetery has become a dense forest in the post-war period.

I couldn’t spend much time here in this cemetery as it feels soooo spooky. Hahahaha… Maybe if you are brave enough, you can not miss to visit this place 🙂

Warsaw Rising Museum (Polish: Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego)

The museum is located in former trams power station. It was open for public on the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of fighting in the city. It is a tribute to those who fought and died for a free Poland and its capital. The exhibition shows the struggle of everyday life before and during the Warsaw Uprising and the horror of occupation — which was a complex international situation — to the post-war communist terror. Images and sounds present the days prior to the outbreak of the Uprising, its subsequent phases, as well as the insurgents’ exit and their subsequent fate. It exhibits nearly 1,500 photographs and films.

If you are interested with Warsaw’s uprising history and how their struggle through the war, this is a must visit museum! You will get the ambiance and emotion through the photographs, audios, and videos played here.

That’s all about the places I visited in Warsaw, and I hope you enjoy it. See you in the next trip 🙂